One of the most impactful decisions in my life was accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was six. I have grown up living my life for Him even in the face of trials and have learned to rely on Him, making my faith stronger.
Growing up in a Christian home, my parents instilled their values and beliefs in me from an early age. I attended Sunday school every week and attended Vacation Bible School in the summer. My parents would ask me what I learned from church and would answer any questions I might have and provide their insight and guidance. This allowed me to be certain in my decision to ask God into my heart, even at a young age. I attended a Bible study class with my dad where I was asked by my pastor to confirm my beliefs and explain why I had asked God into my heart, so he could be sure I had done it for the right reasons and fully understood what it meant. I was baptized later that month to publicly announce to my family and the congregation that I had accepted Christ into my heart.
In third grade, my parents enrolled me in a private Christian school, from which I graduated my senior year of high school. While attending this school I learned about God’s morals and values and how to apply them to my life and how to defend my faith in my Bible classes. My parents taught me the value of God’s word and the difference between right and wrong. They taught me to remain humble in the face of all I may achieve in life and remember that all blessings come from God, not from me. They taught me discipline and self-control as well as responsibility and trust. They taught me that beauty comes from within and how to have a heart that is pleasing to God. They taught me to have integrity, which is now only further emphasized now that I live by the Aggie Code of Honor which states, “An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do.” My family has helped shape my beliefs and allowed me to decide what morals and values I will hold and what kind of person I want to be.
As I get older, I face more challenges and hardships which test my faith and make it stronger. These challenges help me determine what my relationship with Christ means to me and how I can own my faith instead of my parents’. I now want to pursue God, not because my parents or teachers tell me to, but because I genuinely want to. I can now use my morals and values to factor into the decisions I make in the future in attempts to make the most ethically sound decisions. I think the moment I accepted Christ into my heart, my life was changed for the better and I will never regret making that decision.